PAUL DI'ANNO: BRUCE DICKINSON Sounds Like A 'Fairy' Singing Early MAIDEN Songs

Adam Harrold of RockSomething.com recently conducted an interview with former IRON MAIDEN frontman Paul Di'Anno. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

RockSomething.com: What do you think about MAIDEN [performing] lots of your songs again with Bruce [Dickinson] singing on them? On the "Early Days" DVD you say that Bruce is the better singer.

Paul: "You must remember that interviews and filming usually end up highly edited, and I actually said (on various occasions) that Bruce is a better singer for MAIDEN as they became in their later years. I think Bruce's high operatic and theatrical type voice is better suited to MAIDEN's later material, but I honestly think he sounds like a fucking fairy when he is trying to fill my shoes on songs from the first two albums. My voice is aggressive and violent (kind of like me in a way) and it sounds like someone dragged me up from a low-class background and I was used to having a regular fucking good kicking (in the bollocks) every now and then. On the other hand, Bruce's voice is sang in The Queen's English — very politely and with all the letters pronounced properly, and you can imagine him practising his sword fencing whilst practising his vocal exercises. He sounds like a very nice public school boy (which he was) who used to sing in the local church choir after school and was an instant hit with all the old grannies. Meanwhile, I was getting my dick sucked by all the fanny in the park being the fucking animal that I have always been. Bruce is silver but I am gold, as simple as that really."

RockSomething.com: The first two albums are still often listed as people's favorite MAIDEN albums. Does this make you proud or do you wish at times that you could get away from your MAIDEN past?

Paul: "There are still a lot of people who seem forget that my voice was and still is a huge part of MAIDEN's past, and I am both happy and proud of that fact, as MAIDEN got there with my voice. However how comes some cunts make a big fucking noise about me singing 'Running Free' and the other classics, but when Bruce is out there singing the first two albums and trying to clone my voice, then that is perfectly acceptable?"

RockSomething.com: Did you ever listen to the Blaze-era MAIDEN?

Paul: "I try to not listen to shit."

RockSomething.com: You're currently touring Europe and then onto Russia. How’s that going for you? Do you find the U.K. audience still treats you well?

Paul: "Well, I am doing just unbelievable, just about everywhere now apart from USA and U.K., but in all fairness I do not really play much in the U.K. anymore as the rewards are so low and the expenses are so high. However, my manager has recently informed me that I'll be playing London sometime early next year, so ask me again then."

RockSomething.com: I hear that you're living/have recently lived in Brazil. What's that like?

Paul: "I lived there for a short time as it is a an extremely big market for me, and it was easier to live there for a while, instead of keep travelling backwards and forwards to do shows and recordings etc. I loved living in Brazil for the short time that I did as it is my favorite place in the world, but now I have returned back to living in Wiltshire in the U.K."

Read the entire interview at RockSomething.com.